Wayne Huizenga wants to sell Dolphins before Barack Obama raises tax

SunSentinel.com
By Sarah Talalay

Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga said Sunday no date has been set for selling up to 45 percent more of the team to Stephen Ross, but the presidential election is among the issues weighing on his decision.

That's because a Barack Obama administration is expected to mean higher capital-gains taxes.

"He wants to double the capital gains tax, or almost double it," Huizenga said. "I'd rather give it to charity than to him."

Ross purchased 50 percent of the team and Dolphin Stadium for $550 million earlier this year with the intention he would eventually become majority owner. NFL owners approved the eventual transfer this month, meaning it can take place anytime.

"If you do it this year or you do it next year, the difference is humongous because of the taxes," Huizenga said.

But the Obama campaign disputed Huizenga's figures on Monday, saying the candidate's plans are to raise the capital gains tax maximum from 15 percent to 20 percent -- a 33 percent increase, not double. And the top rate would be for families earning more than $250,000 or individuals earning more than $200,000.

"Mr. Huizenga is wrong about Senator Obama's tax plan, which calls for a maximum capital-gains rate of 20 percent -- a third lower than the rate that President Reagan set in 1986," said Bobby Gravitz, Obama campaign South Florida spokesman. "Furthermore, Senator Obama's tax cut for 95 percent of working families will mean a whole lot of Dolfans will be better able to afford those ever-rising ticket prices."

Regardless of when he sells, Huizenga vows to maintain a 5-percent stake in the team.

"It's been 19 years and after 19 years, it's kind of time," he said. "I don't want to be one of those owners who gets real old and hangs in there, we know some of those stories already, I don't want to be one of those guys."

Ok here we have Obama confirming that his tax plan INCLUDES small business "or individuals earning more than $200,000."

And the lie that of "tax cut for 95 percent of working families"

Information below is from The Tax Foundation that refutes "Senator Government's" claim

The major findings include:

To the surprise of some, even though Senator Obama's tax plan lowers taxes for the bottom four quintiles, marginal tax rates would fall only for the very lowest-income couples.
Taking both income and payroll taxes into account, those at the very bottom of the income distribution would see their effective marginal tax rates fall from 27.4 percent to minus 58.6 percent due to proposed changes to the earned income tax credit and Senator Obama's new "Making Work Pay" credit.

Most low- and moderate-income couples would see their effective marginal tax rates rise, in some cases, significantly. Indeed, some low- and moderate-income taxpayers will see their marginal rates rise to more than 50 percent.

Under Sen. Obama's plan, the already negative marginal tax rates for low-income taxpayers drop further, due to his proposals to expand the EITC and for a new "Making Work Pay" credit.

The new credit would equal 6.2 percent of the first $8,100 of a worker's wages, and it would phase out for moderate-income taxpayers. Both of these provisions would sharply reduce marginal tax rates for taxpayers with the lowest earnings, reducing their combined income and payroll tax rates to minus 58.6 percent.

However, these and other provisions are phased out in short order under both current law and Senator Obama's tax plan, which causes effective marginal tax rates to rise for moderate-income taxpayers.

Senator Obama also expands the child and dependent care credit and begins to phase down this expansion at $30,000 of income. The combination of the phase-out of the EITC, the "Making Work Pay" credit, and the child and dependent care credit pushes the effective marginal tax rate to as high as 51.7 percent.

That is, the taxpayer who benefits from all these provisions at a lower income discovers that he gets to keep less than one half of every additional dollar of earnings in the roughly $30,000-to-$43,000 range

Oh and thank you Wayne!